Well...as you all have probably guessed by now, i made it thru 10 weeks of PST and have officially been a PCV now since August 13! I moved to my permanent site the same day after emotional goodbye's to my fellow English-speaking PCVs. I had 2 weeks to settle in and meet with my 2 partner teachers to plan lesson plans before starting teaching...IN ROMANIAN...on 1 Septembrie!
I live in a small village near Soroca, a "raion" (similar to a small city) on the Nistru River, which is the border between Ukraine and Moldova! I love the area, especially Soroca itself! It's sooooooooo beautiful!!!
(Ukraine on the left, Moldova on the right)
Mama-G (Mama gazdă = host mom) is great! It's just her and me that share the casă mică (small house) together. Her husband died a few years ago and her 2 sons are married with kids and live on their own.
My "room" is more of a closet and has a door that doesn't shut all the way and half of it is opaque/semi-see-thru glass, but since it's just her and me, it doesn't bother me and the closet is actually quite cozy :o] Her bed is in the kitchen, so at least i have a door...even if it doesn't completely shut. And hey, at least I have a mirror! I hadn't seen myself in about 3 months!
(ya, that's Mama-G's sons picture hanging on the wall above my bed)
(Negru)
She has a dog named Negru (probably around 5ish years old) and 2 sister/brother puppies (not Negru's). I named the puppies (Mama-G doesn't know) Rachela (the "ch" in Romanian sounds like a "k") & Nicolae cuz they remind me of my cousins Jez (who was "Rachel" as a kid) and Nick when they were kids. Rachela is bigger than Nicolae (Jez is older than Nick) and kind of a bully, but Nicolae just takes it and just keeps following along. Nicolae is super sweet and loves to be loved and held and cuddled, whereas Rachela wants to be loved, but you hafta earn it. Their relationship is just like Jez's and Nick's when they were kids...it's pretty funny!
(don't be decieved by Rachelă's puppy-dog eyes...she's a brat...cute, yes, and with that comes brat! ;o]
(Nicolae :o] )
But enough dog talk (for now)...
So i started teaching with my partner teachers the 1st week of Septembrie. I'm teaching health ed to middle-schoolers (here middle school is 5th - 9th grades)...IN ROMANIAN! it's been 3 weeks completed now and i'm likin' it!
(from left to right: Natlaia [one of my partner teachers], me, Maria [the dance teacher])
1 Septembrie = "1st Bell" = 1st day of school -- more of a formal ceremony! All the kids come to school dressed up super fancy...like fancy lacey dresses and 3 pc suits! The mayor is there, a priest is there, speeches are given (including mine about myself in broken Romanian), music is played...i had no idea! After all that, the elevii (students) give teachers and staff flowers! So sweet! :o]
(I found a broken vase in my class to put my flower in ;o] )
(my partners and i have our own sănătate [health] classroom...which is quite a luxury within the healthie [health ed educators] community!!)
Our school only has about 215 students - down from the 800+ it used to have! One of my partners told me a lot of people have moved away for work in other countries, which has been a big problem in Moldova, in general.
Overall, it's been a lot of fun and adventure getting to know Moldova and Moldovans so far!
...more to come!!
so much fun to hear from the "other sister"! Congrats on your assignment. I'll look forward to more.
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